China’s installed non-fossil fuel electricity capacity


By Karen Graham
AFP
June 12, 2023

Enviro Friendly cited data compiled by environmental think tank Ember to look at countries whose solar electricity capacity has grown the most over the past 15 years. - Canva

China’s non-fossil fuel energy sources now exceed 50% of its total installed electricity generation capacity.

According to Yale 360, China set a goal in 2021 for renewable capacity, including wind, solar, hydro, and nuclear power to exceed fossil fuel capacity by 2025, a target that it has hit two years ahead of schedule.

By the end of 2022, China’s installed power generation capacity was 2,564.05 GW, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

And while China has devoted extensive resources to the construction of renewable energy capacity in recent years, the Chinese industry accounts for around 60 percent of all electricity demand, according to Bloomberg’s estimates, reports Oil Price.com.

Residential demand for electricity was just 17 percent in 2020. This inconsistent utilization of resources means that China’s energy consumption mix remains weighted toward fossil fuels, principally coal, Reuters reported in March 2023.

It is important to remember that power capacity refers to the maximum amount of electricity a power plant can produce under ideal conditions. It’s a measure of how much electricity a solar farm can generate at noon on a cloudless day, or how much a coal plant can produce when operating at full blast.

Because fossil fuel plants operate closer to their capacity than solar and wind plants do, the newly released figures may obscure how much electricity China is actually drawing from renewables.